Help me absorb vibrations coming from below

[rogermoo]

I live in a condo built in the 1980's with a noisy downstairs neighbor. The bass on his speakers blares through the floor, as does the bass on his TV.

What's far worse are the vibrations causing the whole condo to shake. What can I do to reduce or ideally get rid of these vibrations? (I'll settle for getting rid of them under just my bed, rather than the whole condo, if I have to.) Will a thick area rug and rug pad under the bed do the trick?

We have glue-down bamboo floors on top of a concrete subfloor. At this point, it's not an option to put anything underneath the floors. So whatever we do has to go over the floors... help, please?

[Randy S]

Not a good situation, The bass is already in the structure and you would be soundproofing from the receiving side as opposed to the source side which means far less results with bass(LF) and structural impact...

If you used our mass loaded vinyl w/ closed cell foam underlayment ---wall to wall with carpet and padding you would get some reduction but the boom will still be coming through the walls...as it is today..
http://shop3.mailordercentral.com/supersoundproofing/prodinfo.asp?number=09-00005CC-54F

[rogermoo]

Thanks, Randy. Sounds like the soundproofing really needs to happen below me. Is there anything I can ask my downstairs neighbor to do that's cheap and convenient? Since it's his condo and not mine, it'd have to be something easy... nothing major... I'm even willing to consider paying for him to do what it takes, if there's a cheap and relatively easy solution... thoughts?

[Randy S]

Unfortunately, It will be more expensive on the source side...he would have to "float " the walls and ceiling to prevent the Sound pressure levels(SPL) LF (bass) from getting into the structure... The answer is for him to turn down his bass.....

Imagine the neighbor running around the condo with a hammer hitting all the walls and the ceiling at the same time....This is basically what is happening ...... even if the speaker was floating in mid air the effect would be the same when playing... if you can feel the boom then it is impacting the surface area of the room.

[rogermoo]

Unfortunately, I have already asked him to turn down his bass and complained to management. He's turned it down somewhat, but I can still hear it sometimes and I feel the boom even more often than I hear it. I do feel like he's tried to meet me half way, so if there's anything I can do, that'd be great. Sounds like not, though. We can't do wall to wall carpet... That's what was here before we moved in and we replaced it with bamboo floors! So wall to wall carpet kind of defeats the point... Any other options?

[Randy S]

we might be able to apply a "band-aid" option but we should have a thorough discussion before you make a decision.

Call me direct, when you have a few minutes to discuss.

Randy S.
1-888-942-7743 ext 104
or
760-752-3030 ext 104

[rogermoo]

Sounds good, I'll try you on Monday.